Chlorine dioxide is a very valuable reagent, bleaching agent and disinfectant and is being used more widely. However, chlorine dioxide is unstable when compressed and cannot be transported easily. Thus, the material is usually generated at the site where it is to be used. Several commercial generators have been disclosed to produce chlorine dioxide. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,247,531 and 4,590,057 to Hicks and U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,081 to Mason et al disclose apparatuses and methods which introduce reagents into a mix and dwell premix chamber, and are introduced transversely into a low pressure zone. That is, the vacuum which is formed in these generators pulls both the liquid phase and the gas phase into the side of the chamber in which the vacuum is formed. This causes fluctuations in the vacuum and inconsistencies in the operation of liquid control rotameters. The quantity of product is limited by the flow rate from the premix chamber. Santillie et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,451,444 and 4,618,479 disclose a method and apparatus which introduces reagents at the bottom of a column which is cooled by a surrounding jacket. Water flowing in the cooling jacket is used in conjunction with a pump to produce a vacuum for the system.
The efficiencies of existing generators require improvement. Also, in order to change the production rate/unit time, the size of the reaction column and the fittings must be changed because a single size unit of existing generators has limited capacity.